#siblingquest 202x

[untitled-tmnt-blog]

Rise August 2024

Day 12: Big Mama's Assistant

For day 12 of Rise August: Cissy, from @kiaxet's Siblingquest 202X! I've been wanting to draw her for a while now, and today's prompt seemed like the perfect opportunity!

(Rise August 2024 Masterpost)

[kiaxet]

Asking some writers/artists I follow:

Is there anything in your fic/comic that you as the author know about, but won't end up in the actual story?

Gonna talk Siblingquest here:

New York is convinced the Nexus Hotel is haunted, and the staff on the human side tend to confirm it. After all, if you've worked there long enough, you'll eventually see or hear something completely inexplicable, so yep! Must be haunted.

Big Mama encourages these rumors - the hotel opened in the early 1900s, after all, so of course it has some history! The rumors started organically, but the fact that the rumors help cover up any mystic or yokai activity that accidentally leaks to the human side is certainly a bonus for her.

That said, ghost hunting teams - especially those with television shows or, perish the thought, podcasts - are barred from the premises, and any employee caught knowingly letting them in will be immediately sacked.

[kiaxet]

Cissy had pegged the bow-bedecked versions of the twins as predators from the get-go, and their enthusiastic participation in the earlier brawl hadn't exactly proven her wrong. She'd been keeping an eye on them since then, careful to stay out of their radius, aware her bright blue paint-spattered hoodie is distinctive and not wanting to be noticed. She's unarmed and alone; if the bows decide she's a worthwhile target, she will absolutely get the worse of that fight, and the last thing she wants is another life-altering injury.

(Her shoulder throbs, and she ignores it.)

So she keeps an eye on them in between navigating all these other versions of her brothers, watching Leonardo turn on the charm and Donatello stand silently at his side, smiling in a way she's never seen Donatello smile before. It's all very...polite. Gracious. Well-trained.

(It's the end result of the training she could never master, isn't it. It's the reason she wears a mask at the Nexus Hotel. The clothing, the mask of a smile, the vicious approach to combat - did Big Mama get to these two somehow?)

(Is it worth finding out?)

(Not if she wants to stay out of trouble.)

The day wears on, time moving too quickly and dragging on by turns, and she keeps track of the bows only in glances - hopefully not enough for them to notice her eye is on them - in between being distracted or challenged or led along by different versions of her brothers and by turtles she doesn't know.

The computer monitor with Donatello's face had been particularly odd, but she truly wouldn't put it past him to make something like that.

It's only when the afternoon wears on into evening does she really stop and look at the bows again. Leonardo's smile is strained like an overused muscle; Donatello is fidgeting with the cord of his headphones; and both of them look to be exhausted. She'd caught them throwing out the food they'd received at one point; had they not eaten anything today? She can understand not accepting unwrapped or homemade food from a stranger, but still.

Evidently even predators get tired.

She turns her back, more than ready to leave them alone - an exhausted predator is one thats less likely to pursue her, but-

They're your brothers.

They're not. Her brothers aren't here - she's checked.

They're tired. They need to rest.

All the better for her, then - they're less likely to go after her if they're too tired to give chase.

Don't you remember what that feels like?

She stops short, the question sinking its claws into her brain. She can feel the chill of the hard floor beneath her shell, a thin blanket not enough to keep it out; the pain of an empty stomach, folding in on itself and clenching hard; the scream rising in her throat, the need to get out get away go somewhere quiet and let it out, but she couldn't, because noise would mean consequences-

She'll never forget what it feels like. If she can help - if she can keep someone from feeling like that themselves - then she has to. There is no option.

Even if that someone is a pair of predators.

She passes their way several minutes later, approaching Leonardo with her hood up and her hands buried in her hoodie pocket. Leonardo is the less likely of the two to bite her head off if things go wrong. Maybe. She hopes. She gets close to him and abruptly removes her hands from her pocket, shoving two protein shakes into his hands. It had been a long time since she'd been hungry enough to rob a vending machine, but that doesn't mean she's forgotten how. "There's an empty storage closet in the northeast corner," she says simply.

Then she turns, puts on speed, and does her best to disappear into the crowd, slipping between a Raphael who outsizes her quite a bit and an adult turtle in a cloak. She'll need to lose the hoodie - her shell is just as distinctive, but if they haven't seen it, maybe they won't make the connection. And if she's lucky, they won't pursue her at all.

She's not usually lucky.

She tries not to think about it.

Good luck on the competition!!

more gifts to accept and people to meet? no problem, the gems know this song and dance~

oh, there's more? that's fine, no problem...!

wow, there sure a lot of people at this event, huh?... sure... no big deal... great chance to get some good PR in, right?... the gemini toottalllyyy have this handled...

yayyy... they're having sooo much fun at the @tmntaucompetition and aren't overwhelmed or stressed at ALL. they know how to do this! they just have to... keep going... and not fuck it up...! easy!...

[dandylovesturtles]

🛼🥤🌸

Skipping the first one because I just did it in another ask.

🥤 ⇢ recommend an author or fanfic you love

oh man, this fandom has so many amazing authors and fanfics, it'd be hard to pick just one. Here's a few shoutouts:

some fics I'm currently following:

Adagio in Green by WhatTheVoid

call me here (I will appear) by rbt_lvr

let it out (talk to me) by feralcleric

Siblingquest 202X by Kiaxet

firefight by remrose

by touch, by sight by story_monger

some fics I keep rereading:

Recoil by unorthodoxx

decompress by Tenka

Trinkets by SmilesRawesome

Panic Buttons by arachnid_writes

all the things that I could live without by taizi

KOSMARA by MagpieCrown

who're you hiding by sunflowerstarfruit

Happiness is a Warm Shell by Fastern (bad things happen bingo collection)

i guess we've really been out of touch (but can it really be so serious) by MagicalSpaceDragon

and there are other great authors like greenglowsgold, like_theletter, and pickledcarrotsandradish that you should check out!

🌸 ⇢ do you have any pets? if you do, post some pictures of them

I DO!! I have two kitties who I love and would protect with my life

Their names are Don(nie) and Lina. They’re named after Don Lockwood and Lina Lamont from Singing in the Rain

Here are pics:

[kiaxet]

New project? New project.

Turtle fans, meet Cissy. She's about to meet her brothers for the first time, and it's going to upend their lives every bit as much as it does hers. After all, Found Family sometimes includes Finding The Family You Never Knew You Had.

Thank you @heckitall for the fantastic art!

[kiaxet]

Leo feels the air leave the room as his eyes travel to the Assistant’s uncovered face to see-

They’re a turtle. Dark green skin, yellow markings - whorls of color that stretch from temple to jaw and disappear into the cowl around their neck, and a glare that could strip paint-

But part of that glare is the same brown eyes they all have. Dad’s eyes.

One of their siblings is alive.

SIBLINGQUEST IS LIVE, Y'ALL

Missing siblings! Found family! Terrible first impressions! I have so many plans for this fic, but first we have to meet our protagonist, and boy is it a rocky experience.

Thanks again to @dandylovesturtles for being my beta on this! I appreciate you <3

[kiaxet]

Am I in the AU comp? No. Is that about to stop me? Also no.

...not when there's a Discord server of people encouraging my shenanigans, at least.

---

Cissy has no idea where she is. It looks to be a gymnasium of some sort, large enough to house hundreds of people, with a banner reading "WELCOME AU COMPETITION" hanging from the rafters - a clue, or an answer, if she had the context to decipher it.

Which she doesn't. Great.

She bumps into one vaguely familiar turtle, and then another, and it takes a third for her to realize they're all her brothers. Sure, there are some she doesn't recognize - the adult in the cloak and violet mask with a parade of very young turtles trailing after him, for one - but for the most part they come in sets of four, have similar scale colors and distinctive markings, and answer to the same names. There's a Leonardo who seems to be an adult with a mechanical prosthetic, leading a younger Leonardo fully missing his arm; there's a Leonardo in a wheelchair; the yellow-eyed Donatello moving on all fours and snarling doesn't trigger her danger sense, but the Leonardo and Donatello wearing bows that look like they've been styled by Big Mama and leaning nonchalantly against the wall definitely do; and there's more than one set of them with tails.

None of them are hers - none of them recognize her.

There are no other versions of her - not that she's been able to see, at least.

Maybe there's not another version of her to recognize.

Maybe she's alone here.

But why would she be alone-

Why is she here at all-

She turns abruptly and weaves through the crowd, making her way to the edge of the room and the bleachers that line it, climbing them until she makes it to the mostly unoccupied top row. High ground. Good vantage point. She can gather information here. Maybe there's something she missed- maybe everything will make sense once she finds it- if she can- if there's anything to find-

She pulls the hood of her stolen-then-borrowed hoodie up over her head. She wasn't prepared to come here- she doesn't have her weapons, or any gear, or her mask-

(Maybe it's better that she doesn't have it. Maybe these versions of her siblings would recognize Big Mama's Assistant instead of Cissy. Maybe it's better they don't know her.)

She pulls herself out of that spiral just in time to witness a fight breaking out in the crowd. Maybe it's a good thing that she got out of there when she did.

Her mouth pulls into a smile that borders on a grimace as the twins with bows zoom halfway across the room to hurl themselves into the brawl. Definitely better that she's up here now. She settles in, keeping an eye on the combatants. Maybe someone will provide answers. Maybe someone will find a way out. Either way, for now, all she can do is keep an eye out and wait.

(And stay the hell away from that particular version of Leonardo and Donatello. She's faced down her brothers in combat before; she knows what they're capable of; and those two just look nasty. She would prefer to keep all of her limbs intact, thank you.)

[kiaxet]

Next chapter of Siblingquest is up! In which deals are made, the advantages of certain articles of clothing are discussed, and Donnie gets put in air jail (he deserved it).

[kiaxet]

Gimme BTS for both Siblingquest and Lethal Measures, scene of your choice!

Lethal Measures first, because that one's been around for a bit and we have fun here:

If the government wants to get to Donnie or his brothers, all it would take would be one particularly morally bankrupt decision maker to make the call to go after April- And they’d never know, until she failed to check in. Or they’d force her to open her phone and keep checking in in her stead - it’s not like those messages are particularly long or detailed - and they’d never know at all- He pushes away from the screen, letting the chair roll as his mind scrambles. They’d never know- April’s in danger- they’re all in danger- he should’ve known- he’s the tech guy, the genius of the family, the only one with any cybersecurity savvy- he should’ve known- this is his fault- they’re all in danger and it’s his fault- they- he- he- He pulls his legs up against his chest and wraps his arms around them, burying his head in his knees and gasping for breath as his heart pounds in his ears and his brain spins out of control, caught in a cycle of guilt and the looming unknown, and he- He loses time. Slowly, his breathing evens out. His heart quiets down. The world gradually slides back into focus. This is his fault, and he will fix it. Later. After the Krang issue is taken care of. Under observation for the time being means that they aren’t planning on making a move, and he can set up another monitor program to notify him if that ever changes, as well as any other changes they make to the dossiers. Forewarned is forearmed, and he’ll be armed enough to make sure they regret ever thinking about coming after his family- But they aren’t yet. Priorities. He’s okay - he’s fine - he just needs to focus.

It's inaccurate to say I've never seen an episode of TMNT 03 in my life - I'm sure I have; it was just 20 years ago, and all I remember is the opening theme. I sure as hell did not remember Bishop, so he wasn't a factor when this particular scene (read: Donnie realizing a government black site specializing in xenobiology knows about him and his family) - the Government Agency in question was a blank slate for me, and I figured I was already in AU territory and could just keep digging. I wound up with Site 39, who are far more observation-focused and prefer to prevent trouble than cause it, meaning Donnie's fears about the government coming after his family are currently unfounded.

It's not like Donnie knows that.

This poor kid has helped avert an apocalypse, nearly lost his family in the process, made the entirety of his family's recovery his responsibility, is absolutely traumatized and absolutely refusing to acknowledge that (let alone take steps to assuage it), and has decided that a Krang hunt is a good use of his time, because he wants to get rid of the last Real Threat to his family. Finding what he believes is a second Real Threat is a goddamn hammer blow to his psyche. So he immediately puts it on his To Fix list, along with literally everything else, because sometimes Donnie doesn't learn unless someone else hammers it into his head.

I do have fun writing panic attacks - there's something about the mechanics of breaking up sentences and the very- abrupt- nature- of the hyphen as punctuation that really works to paint the picture of a thought process spiraling out of control.

I have had exactly one person who didn't know about it beforehand pick up on the repetition of I'm fine and he's fine and what it means to the story, and I fucking love them.

Siblingquest time! I'm pulling from the little that's published, so as to avoid doing a DVD commentary on something that would currently count as spoilers.

“Anything on the scanner, Donnie?” Leo asks for what feels like the millionth time. “Negative. Even New York’s Finest are having a boring evening.” Donnie sighs and slumps as much as the lightweight battle shell will let him. “You know, Spider-Man never has these problems.” “Nah, Spider-Man has other problems,” Mikey says evenly, finishing a wrist stretch and sliding his brace back on. “Like, all the time. It’s definitely a good thing we aren’t Spider-Man.” “Yeah, and I don’t think Spider-Man could handle being us.” Leo smirks and offers Mikey a fistbump, which Mikey reciprocates and explodes, fingers waggling gleefully. “You know,” Raph says, leaning in, then pauses. “Well, one, Spider-Man ain’t got nothing on the Mad Dogs. An’ two, if nothing’s happening, we could just go home for the night. Raph can’t vouch for Donnie, but Raph hasn’t used his screen time today, and we could go play Smash-” Which is when the sound of glass shattering echoes through the street as a window smashes outwards, a barely-disguised ram yokai barreling through it, something small clutched to its chest. It stops, shaking glass out of its horns and fur, and then hoofs it up the street. There’s a beat of silence, and then- “That was not the kind of Smash Raph meant.”

Most of the writing that exists for Siblingquest right now was written in a NaNoWriMo word sprint haze and cleaned up in post, as it were. This means that a lot of the non-load-bearing prose - conversations, jokes, small interstitial scenes that aren't super plot heavy - was written as quickly as possible and pulls directly from whatever happened to be on my mind at the time.

My roommate and I also spent much of November playing Spider-Man 2 on a borrowed PS5, so it was on my mind at the time. Modern Spider-Man problems, generally speaking, tend to end with messy upheaval and at least one person Emotionally Important to the Spider-Man in question dying a painful but meaningful death. The Hamatos do not want Spider-Man problems, and Spider-Man could not handle the Krang.

("But they handled the Symbiote-" The Symbiote in Spider-Man 2 and the Krang as presented in Rise aren't anywhere near the same weight class. The Krang would body Venom. Being voiced by Tony Todd would not save him.)

(...someone give me a fucked up Krang/Symbiote amalgamate now, please.)

Also, comedy is hard and I am very proud of that last joke.

...also fuck it, have a preview of coming attractions in Siblingquest:

“Oh, nah, I’m thinking Run of the Mill.” Leonardo looks up at Cissy. She probably ought to hop down and join them - she hadn’t been thinking. “You ever been?” Context says it’s a place, likely one that serves pizza, but aside from that, nothing. Cissy shakes her head. “Then we definitely need to go. C’mon, guys, Cissy’s first Run of the Mill visit!” “Don’t gotta twist my arm,” Raphael says easily. “Donnie?” “Far be it from me to turn down the offer of pizza.” A beat. “Though if Nardo puts his Hawaiian on my plate again, I’m taking his arm off.” “Donnie, he needs that-” The arm conversation continues, and Leonardo gestures at Cissy to join them as he and Michelangelo start heading out the door. Cissy finally steps off the rafters and lands on the ground, swiftly catching up to Donatello and leaning in. “It’ll come off easier at the shoulder,” she says, voice low to avoid catching Raphael’s ear, “but you’ll need to pop it out of the socket first.” She puts on speed to catch up to Michelangelo, and only hears Donatello’s incredulous, “How do you know that?” behind her after she heads out the door.

[kiaxet]

LOOK AT MY GIRL ISN'T SHE ADORABLE

If you want to know where she's from, check out Siblingquest 202X! We're still early in the story, but she's already hard at work.

Thank you again for the art! You do excellent work!

Commission for @kiaxet of the wonderful Cissy! You will like Cissy. You will tell Cissy that she is cool. You will give Cissy your snacks.

Thank you for the commission Kia! <3

[commissions open until July 1st]

[kiaxet]

Siblingquest chapter two! Our first interstitial, in which there is Coworker Banter.

[kiaxet]

Fanfic WIP game: rules

And it strikes her that the rules are probably for her benefit. She’s the only one who hasn’t seen this movie, after all.

(Meme is here; thanks for the ask!)

[kiaxet]

For the ask game: year

The Nexus is where she belongs - where she’s been for the past few years of her life, where she knows what is expected of her and how to perform up to that standard, where she truly fits in - and she should be happy to go back where she doesn’t have to worry about accidentally stepping outside the lines.

[kiaxet]

Years

Given them everything he possibly could, even if it was distressingly little during those first extremely difficult years, when his body didn’t move the way he remembered and he couldn’t show his face and he had four babies who were hungry all the time and growing fast and he was still figuring out what was safe for them to eat-

[kiaxet]

'thoughts' for the ask game!

She blinks, thoughts interrupted as Michelangelo offers her the serving spoon with a smile. “Help yourself.”

[kiaxet]

For the WIP game: water

“Raph, push him under the water for me,” Leonardo demands, and Cissy breathes a sigh of relief that her reaction has seemingly been already forgotten.

(Meme is here; thanks for the ask!)